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Re: Following our ex's...................

As the search begins to find the next football operations manager at the AFL, Simon Garlick should be near the top of the list of candidates.

A former AFL player who became commercial operations boss at the Western Bulldogs and then chief executive for almost five years, Garlick would be an ideal replacement for Simon Lethlean.

He’s a St Kevins boy, so very much in the AFL wheelhouse for executive appointments, but Garlick should not considered part of the “boys’ club” which the AFL has been accused of cultivating in recent years.

While Lethlean, Gillon McLahclan (CEO) and Andrew Dillon (AFL legal counsel) were forging strong careers and friendships in the VAFA, Garlick lived his childhood dream, playing 181 AFL games with Sydney and the Bulldogs.

At 42, he is young, but wise and with club-land experience.

Youth would appear on his side.

On Tuesday, Geelong premiership captain Tom Harley was announced as Sydney’s next CEO, replacing Andrew Ireland at the end of 2018. Harley is 39.

Last week, Harley was touted as a possible candidate to replace Lethlean, although this recent anointment puts him in the frame to be a contender to replace McLachlan when that position becomes available. But let’s not jump too far ahead.

It’s not known if Garlick will apply for the footy ops role, but that shouldn’t stop the AFL sounding him out.

Garlick has been out of the AFL systems since quitting his role at the Bulldogs in January 2015. His departure should not be seen as a reflection on Garlick’s ability.

Dogs president Peter Gordon likes a natural order to things — one with him in charge — and Garlick found it increasingly difficult to work with the boss.

He quit because he wasn’t enjoying his role, not because he couldn’t do it.

It would be foolish to say his relationship with Gordon was the only reason he left the Bulldogs, but it was significant.

Since late 2015 Garlick has run the sponsorship department at uber agency Bastion.

The footy ops role is as public and demanding as McLachlan’s role, and Garlick came across as a natural when at the Bulldogs.

At the Dogs, he oversaw the sacking of Brendan McCartney and the appointment of Luke Beveridge, so football crises are not foreign territory.

Whether Garlick wants the role is yet to be determined. He is a family man, married with three kids and his weekend are full of junior sports, including coaching roles.

It’s believed Garlick and Lethlean, who are friends, caught up recently at a pub in Prahran.

It’s hard to imagine a list of candidates for Lethlean’s old job wouldn’t have been discussed, and Garlick wasn’t among them.